


tony, steve, and the sky

by mzyz



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 08:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17845973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mzyz/pseuds/mzyz
Summary: “You must be tired…I should go—““Don’t,” Tony hates how his voice cracks. “Don’t go. You owe me that much.”in which tony gets back from the unforgiving vacuum of space, the snap hasn't been reversed and he and steve talk.they heal a little, too.





	tony, steve, and the sky

**Author's Note:**

> i just watched cacw and i miss my boys and i need them to make up

“It’ll work, Tony,” Steve says. He leans on the doorway to the compound's roof, head tilted down. “The plan is good. It’ll work.”

Tony doesn’t look at Steve, doesn’t blink. He can’t even feel himself breathe. There’s no running, it’s just him, the roof and the man who almost killed him. The world seems to be spinning a million miles an hour; it was just half a day ago that he’d landed back home in the Avengers’ Compound with Nebula. And now, here he was.

He leans back, wanting the brick wall he’s sitting against to engulf him.

“Okay,” he breathes out, the first words he’s spoken to Steve in nearly have an eternity (read: almost two and a half years).

“Can I sit?” Steve asks, tentatively. Gingerly.

 _No_ , Tony tells himself but his mouth betrays him, “fine.”

Tony’s eyes trail Steve as his heavy footsteps draw near and his broad body plops down next to Tony, back pressing against the same wall. Steve’s pure blue eyes look up and Tony grimaces. He hates the reflection of the stars in Steve's pupils. He hates Steve. He hates that he hates Steve and he hates that, deep inside, he could never hate Steve.

“How are you?” Steve asks, voice heavy with an unspoken…something (grief? fear? loneliness?).

“For someone who’s been drifting off in the void of space with little to no sustenance…not bad. I’ve felt worse.” Tony's voice is empty. 

Tony can see Steve wince, visibly, at his words. 

“Tony, I—“

“Don’t. Steve.” Tony’s eyes cast up, stomach dropping at the sight of stars. They make him nauseous and all he can think of is the last few days, blurred together in hunger and pain, floating adrift on a breaking ship. 

“I know,” Steve mutters.

And there’s silence for a while, teetering on the edge of comfortable and far too uncomfortable.

“How’s it going on your end?” Tony asks, suddenly.

“As good as it can,” Steve answers, as honestly as possible. “Buck’s gone. Sam, too.”

Tony’s stomach clenches, blood turns icy, at the mention of James Barnes. He can still see his mother’s face, bloody and bruised and resigned, as his hand wraps around her neck and—Tony shudders. Steve notices.

“Oh.”

Steve looks at him, eyes unsure of what to say or how to act. Tony finds himself wishing, wildly, for the past. Back when everything was good. Back when they were teammates, back when they smiled at each other and exchanged quips in the heat of battle. Battle where they were on the same side.

Tony thinks of what he would do if he could go back to before the snap. Before the Accords and before Ultron. He’d go find Peter sooner, treasure the time he’d have with his favorite young protege…treasure the time he’d have with the Avengers. There was no point thinking about (yearning for) the past, though. Tony knows this better than anyone. Well, the only person who knows the uselessness of wishing for the past as much as he does is sitting next to him. The man who defied time. 

“You must be tired…I should go—“

“Don’t,” Tony hates how his voice cracks. “Don’t go. You owe me that much.”

Steve’s eyes widen, slightly, and the corners of his lips twitch. “Okay.”

He sits back down, Tony’s body tingles at their proximity. He can't remember the last time they've sat so close. 

“I thought about you a lot, you know,” Steve begins to talk and Tony doesn’t look his way. He looks down. Up. Anywhere but Steve. “If you killed Bucky, Tony, well…we wouldn’t be talking right now. But. Well, I hurt you. I really hurt you and—“

“Stop.” Tony squeezes his eyes shut, unsure what to say. Unsure how to feel. “Stop talking. I just need you to…be quiet.”

“Okay, Tony,” Steve whispers, closing his eyes.

So they sit there, on the roof of a desolate world. Eyes closed, under the starry sky blanket and they’re quiet together.

Tony doesn’t forgive him, it would take a lot of strength and a lot of time to mend what Steve had broken but, for just a minute, he knows that they’re going to be okay.


End file.
